Recipe #27: PORK GINILING

I was home alone most of the day today. I decided to prepare Pork Giniling because the only food I found in the fridge were a kilo of ground pork and a bag of potatoes. I thawed the meat, chopped the potatoes, onions, and tomatoes. I turned the stove on and placed my favorite skillet on top. I then added some oil and started frying the potatoes. I went back to my laptop to check my e-mail and the rest of the Internet.

Then it started to rain.

I love rain. It’s an oasis in the Manila heat. It bathes the entire city while cooling down the air it breathes. I looked outside the window and noticed that there were clothes hanging on the clothesline. I hurriedly ran outside to bring them inside the house. After saving the last piece of clothing from the rain, I smelled a pungent odor coming from the kitchen. My potatoes were burning!

To make the story short, I was able to salvage at least half of the potatoes. The rest were pure charcoal. Good thing I did not chop all the potatoes. But this time, I decided not to leave the kitchen anymore while frying them.

So that’s the most exciting part of my day so far. Anyway, going back to the recipe, Pork Giniling is very important to learn. This is because it is part of the procedure of some other recipes, such as Tortang Talong (Eggplant Omelette), Empanada (stuffed bread), and as a palaman (filling) for your sandwiches. Giniling in English translates to “ground,” as in ground pork.

The directions to prepare Pork Giniling is similar to our Pork Menudo recipe. But this one is much simpler and easier to make. Check out the recipe below.

That’s liver pâté from Malabon, my hometown.

Pork Giniling Recipe

You will need:

3 tbsp cooking oil

2 pieces medium-sized potatoes, peeled and brunoised (finely diced)

3 cloves of garlic

1 kilo ground pork

3 pieces medium-sized onions, minced

3 pieces medium-sized tomatoes, minced

2 pieces medium-sized red or green bell peppers, minced

1 small can of Reno liver spread

2 tbsp patis (fish sauce)

salt, pepper, and vetsin (MSG) to taste

How to prepare:

In a skillet over medium-low heat, fry the potatoes until slightly brown. Set aside. (Pro tip: This kind of vegetable cut is called brunoise. Despite the intimidating sounding name, it simply means finely diced. It has the same size of the frozen mixed vegetables that you can buy from supermarkets.).

In the same skillet over medium heat, add more oil. Sauté garlic and ground pork. Season with salt, pepper, and MSG. Lower the heat. Cook for about 5 minutes while stirring occasionally.

Add the minced vegetables. Cover and cook until the liquid has dried up and the meat and vegetables have browned. Stir occasionally.

Add the rest of the ingredients, including the fried potatoes. Without the cover, cook for a few more minutes while stirring until all the flavors have been fully incorporated.

Hi,
I tried this recipe for dinner,i always wanted something new,something different that its not just and ordinary taste of specific recipe. This is amzingly good!! thanks for the recipe that youve shared,it helped for those filipinos who craved pinoy pork giniling who lives abroad,not to mention a pregnant like me,who craves a different taste everyday… i served it with rice,and for my husband whose not a filipino,whill be bread hhehe… i hope to see more recipes here! God Bless you and more power!!

I cooked this recipe last night minus the liver spread and it turned out delicious. I added a few drops of Magi seasoning to the mix and it enhanced the flavor even more. Thanks for sharing, this is one of the “winners” in my recipe book. Will definitely be making this again. BTW i also topped my serving with a fried egg…soooo good. Next time, i’ll fry some bananas too and serve it along side the egg and the ground pork.
It does feel like home..even if we are on the other side of the globe.
blessings

Hi there!
I found your wonderful blog a couple of days ago! I’m soooo glad I did! It reminds me of being back home with MY family too. Now I have my own family and rarely get to see my mom, brother, grandparents…etc…so your blog reminds me of them.

I have a question about this particular recipe though. What if I can’t find liverspread??? I live in a very small rural town and usually have to travel a good distance to find ingredients for my dishes. In my town, I can only find ACTUAL beef liver and chicken liver in the meat maket. In the canned meat section, there’s ony corned beef and “Deviled Ham spread” (for sandwiches I believe). What can I use in place of this so as not to completely lose the flavor of the original recipe? Or is there no alternative? I hope there is though! Thank you advance for your help!

Hi Emerald! That is really nice to know. This blog reminds me of my lola and tita all the time.

Anyway, to answer your question, if you can’t find liver spread in your area, you can just drop it from the list of ingredients. The taste is almost the same. I only added the liver spread to enhance the flavor. Nevertheless, your pork giniling will just be as delicious without it. 🙂